Electrode for sea water detection



Jan. 2l, 1941. JTL BIRDl Erm;

ELECTRODE FOR SEA WATER DETECTION Filed July 20, 1937 SHIP SUPPLY w s \m N lili! N R aP. www@ m MAST, m N m m NA Dn B R M m. m T JW@ I n f h @m -i /U/ n M .J w 4 /J I Ov 2 M. m v v` Il 7U M INI i|i|-l-ll a? y/ ffVa Wm l! f I. Il .11... u

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rented Jan. e1, 1941 STTES TENT orner-:

t ateatro nceo'rnonn Fon sus waren parecieron Application July 2t, ltl', Serial No. 154,542

i @Reima (ci.

is invention relates to electrical indicating devices and, more particularly, to apparatus for remotely indicating the condition and sea water co tent of water-tight bulkheads or compartments on ships.

e invention is based on the :well understood principle that when a pair of electrodes, which are electro-potentially dissimilar, for example, composed respectively of dissimilar metals such' as an aluminum or silver electrode paired with a copper electrode, or other electric material, as carloon or cadmium or the like, are immersed in an electrically conducting solution or electrolyte, such as sea water, a potential difference will he established between them of a magnitude-dependent on the particular electrodes selected. The arrangement thus constitutes an electrolytic cell generating a voltage which may be employed to actuate a suitable indicating device such as a meter connected between the electrodes.

More particularly, our invention relates to an improvement in the remote indicating system ior which application for letters patent was tiled by Herbert S. Polin and Francis B. Stoddert on august li, 1935, Serial No. 36,123, the present invention relating to the construction of the electrodes themselves and the mounting thereof.

lin-such systems it hasbeen found extremely dimcult to maintain the high resistance necessary under normal conditions between the electrode and the metal hull or the ship or, in other words, the ships ground. With electrodes secured toordinary insulators, inthe latter once become wetted with dirty sea water, a film is usually formed thereover which provides a relatively low leakage' resistance to ground after the water leaves the electrode, that is, after the Water in the compartment has gone down, so that the indicators tail to show correctly the recession ot water in the compertinent and thereafter become inoperative. The maintenance of -a high insulation resistance to around when the electrode is not submerged is hence oi the utmost importance, since the cir- P cuit resistances employed in such a system are high-of the order of several thousand ohmsand the currents employed` to actuate the depth indicating meters are very low-of the order of 50 micro-amperes.

Referring to the drawing, illustrating the prea ierred form nof our invention,

lila. 1 is a vertical section of an electrode and insulating mounting therefor, as .employed in the ships compartment.

Fig. 2-is an elementary wiring diagram of thev indicating alarm system used in connection with a series ci such electrodes.

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail showing a modified lorm ofcap'or shield for the electrode and insulater olFig. l.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the electrode proper if broken off the glass tube to the end of which it is normally secured.

Fin. 5 is a diagrammatic view of a preferred torm of lock in relay lor the alarm circuit.

according to this system, there is disposed within each compartment oi the ship, one of which is shownat l, an electrode l of one type of metal preferably silver, which acts as a common electrode for a series of electrodes 3, t, d, t and 'l in regularly spaced by volume sequence up l,the wall of the compartment and composed of a different type ci metal from that of the electrode 2, such as cadmium, and it is to the construction of these respective electrodes to which this invention particularly relates.

Preferably, each electrode is formed as a small metal cap 8 which is intimately formed on or united with the bottom of an insulating tube 9 of glass or other vitreous insulating material. Preferably, we employ a heat resisting glass for this purpose, such as Pyrex. Preferably, said cap or coating may be applied by casting the metal around the glass or sputtering it on by the Schoop process. The end of said tube also has molded therein a tungsten wire tu which projects a short distance through the end and is fused to the cap. Fig. i shows the cap and wire as they would appear if the glass tubing were broken ofi the same. The preferred method of construction is to rst draw tube 9, then to seal the end of wire iii in the end thereof with a small end projecting, and then to sputter a thin coating of metal thereon to which said wire is bonded, after which a heavier cap of the metal is cast over this coating. Finally, we prefer to coat the silver of electrode t with a depolarizing agent, such as a layer of silver chloride, which is applied by fusing silver chloride powder to the silver electrode.

Preferably, the tube 9 lies within a bottle shaped container il, preferably formed of the same material, such as Pyrex glass, as the tube 9 and drawn 'together to form a tapered top. Thus,

there is provided an air space between the outer wall of the tube 9 and the inner'walls of the outer tube or container l I which is never entirely wetted by sea water no matter how high the water should rise in the compartment, due to the air trapped .within this annular space I3. In the drawing, the water is shown as having risen on the outside to The wire l0 may also be enclosed in a small bore insulating. tube I1 which passes up through the Y neck I8 of the bottle. i, To the top of said neck is fused a metal ferrule I9 preferably made of copper, the glass of the bottl being fused around the ferrule to form a waterwtight seal under pressure, known in the trade as a\Housekeeper seal. Secured to said ferrule is al copper sleeve 20 pressed thereover, the upper portion of which is corrugated to form a long, flexible, water-tight tubing 2| which is connected with a water-tight gland 52 at the bulkhead l. .Through this flexible tubing the insulating cover for the wire l0 may be formed in short sections, as indicated at I1', to give flexibility. The entire bottle may be enclosed within a Bakelite cylinder 22, withia cushioning rubber lining 22 to shock mount `the glass insulator against gunfire and other jars. 'I'he flexible tubing 2l prevents shocks from reaching the insulator from the top of the bulkhead. TheBakelite cylinder 22 has a circular recess 19 into which is fitted a mounting strap 1|, by means of which the cylinder is mounted against the bulkhead. The iiexible tubing 2 I may be of any desired length sufficient to reach the ceiling of the compartment, or copper tubing may be substituted for part of its length.

As shown in Fig. 2, the electrodes 3, 4, 5, 6 and 1 are connected to a series of resistances 23, 24, 25 and 26, and thence to one or more microammeters 28 and 29 which may be shunted by resistances 30, 3|. It will be obvious, therefore, that as the water rises to cover the lower electrodes 2 and 3, the meter readings will be low since the small E. M. F. generated by the cell will have to pass the successive resistances 23, 24, 25 and 26. If the water continues to rise, the resistances will be successively short-circuited by the sea water, so that the meter reading will rise to give the approximate depth of the water in the compartment. V

Preferably, also, an alarm system isprovided to ring an alarm when the water covers the lowest electrode. This system is so arranged that a bell will ring ora light light, orboth, at that time and the alarm will continue to ring until manually thrown out, as by a switch 32. For this purpose, a wire 33 is led from the cell 3 around all of the aforesaid resistances directly to relay 35. Cell current will then pass across bridge contacts 31 through resistance 38 and through relay coil 39 to energize it and close contacts 40 5 to pass the supply current to relay coil 4| of relay 35. This will open contacts 31, close contact 42, and lock the alarm in by the aid of the.

spring catch 43. If desired, two sets of lamps may be employed, one of which, 45, is in the same circuit as the alarm bell 46, so that it remains lighted until the switch 32 is opened, while the others, 41, stay lighted to indicate the compartment location. These remain lighted until latch 43 is released when resetting the equipment vafter the water leaves the compartment.

'I'he preferred construction of relay 39 is shown in Fig. 5, which shows it of the sensitive or self-energizing type having a pivoted arm 60 which is caused to move through an arc againstv function of energizing solenoid 4I, by turning knob 64 having a pin 55 attached thereto, which contacts with arm 60. It will be noted that the sole function of relay 39 is to energize solenoid 4I of relay 35 through contacts 40. Having done so, relay 35 remains latched mechanically and relay 39 may be manuallyv opened by breaking away the magnetic contact from its magnet.

Relay 35 will now! remain latched throughout any failure of ships power or restoration thereof, the only indication of such loss and restoration of power being the fact that lamps 41 will blink oil and on (assuming the alarm switch 32 to have been opened). Meters 28 and 29 will indicate the correct depth of water regardless of whether ship's electrical power supply'is on or not.

When the meter 29 indicates empty, relay 35 may be unlatched, opening contacts 42 and causing lamps 41 to go out., If the compartment is really empty (i. e., electrodes 2 and 3 not immersed), relay 35 will remain open. If water is still present, however, regardless of empty indication on meter 29, solenoid 39 becomes immediately re-energized and closes contacts 49, energizing, in turn, solenoid 4I and causing relay 35 to close contacts 42 and again latch in mechanically.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

- 1. An electrode for use in an indicating system for showing the presence of sea water in a compartment, comprising an inner and an outernon-metallic tube, said tubes being closed at one end, the outer tube being open at the other end and the inner tube sealed at the same end, a metallic element mounted on the sealed end of the inner tube, and an electrical conductor in the inner tube passing through said sealed end and bonded to said element.

`2. An electrode for use in an indicating system forshowing the presence of sea water, as claimed in claim 1, in which said metallic element is in the form of a metal cap sputtered on the sealed end of the inner tube.

3. An electrode for use in a system for indicating the presence of sea Water in a compartment, comprising an insulator having a tubular inner portion and a bell shaped outer portion, said portions being'integral at the top end only so as to enclose between them a substantially annular air space, a metallic element mounted on the lower end of said tubular inner portion, and an electrical conductor passing through said tubular portion and connected to said element.

4. An electrode for use in a system for indicating the presence of sea water in a' compartment, comprising a substantially tubular insulator sealed at least at its exposed end and mounted in said compartment, metallic means carriedv tween said conducting means and the sea water or other bodies at substantially ground potential, comprising an outer non-metallic cylindrianeaoae cai siiieid, the space between said insulator anti said siiieid beine closed at one end. only, 'whereiay air is trapped Within a portion oi said space and prevents time wetting of the boundary surfaces thereof. l

5. 1in an electrode for a voltaic cell, an insniat ing support having inner and outer weils oi high insulation resistance in the presence of tire eicetrolyte of said celi, the spacing o f saici Walis Toeine,r nut a smaii fraction of the height thereof, an electrode element carried by the lower enti oi said inner wail, and a connecting Wait joining the upper. portions oi said inner and outer waits so that upon immersion ci. said electrode in the electrolyte there is provided a pocket in which air is trapped between said inner and outer walls extending `tvell above said electrode eiement, said air preventing a substantiai portion ci the walll surface ci said support from being' wetted by tine electrolyte.

JJE IL. BIRD. FREDERIC S. HUDGMAN. HERBERT S. PULN. 

